Saturday, April 18, 2009

UPDATE, 9:05 PM, Sunday April 18, 2009: The LCF arrived today in Everett delivering the first fuselage section (rear fuselage sections 47/48) from ZA100, the first production standard 787. Matt Cawby got a great picture of the section being offloaded the LCF at Paine Field. Click HERE to see the picture.

According to Guy Norris at Aviation Week, the factory gauntlet test is planned to start on April 20th and should finish in the early morning of April 21st. The final software system integration test was passed on April 17th allowing for Dreamliner 1 to proceed with the start of the final systems checkout (on Sunday April 19th) and on to the start of factory gauntlet on the 20th. Guy reported that Dreamliner 1 will be put through 2 set of test during factory gauntlet each lasting 10 hours each.

Also on tap is the testing of the flight test instrumentation system that is on baord the 787 and will be recording all the test parameters during the flight test program. Major systems checkout is also being performed as well as inspection of the flight control surfaces and checking the trim on those surfaces as well as the doors and panels.

In my estimation, Dreamliner 1 can be out on the flight line as early as April 22nd which also happens to be the day that Boeing reports 1st quarter earnings. There will be an earning conference call during which I expect some general news about the 787 schedule to be revealed by Jim MeNerney.

Does this mean that "major systems" are all working well or is this just a "stage x" assessment and there has to be other confirmations. When you indicate that the final "software integration" has been completed, what does that really mean.

Reading Jon Ostrower's piece, it appears that all the prerequisites for intermediate gauntlet on the flightline are in place except the Wing Load Limit ( ultimate load) test which is slated for AFTER the first flight.

Seems strange that it takes place after first flight...do you know why?...and is that correct?

The ultimate load test is the last static test to be completed - this is the test in which the wings are typically broken. Ultimate load is 150% of the expected maximum load. There is plenty of static testing to be completed before then.

The limit load test will still test the wings to the maximum load expected. Bear in mind that this maximum load is a load which is only ever expected to be met once by a single aircraft out of all 787s which will ever be built.

In Jon Ostrower's description of what the order of the gauntlet tests are, it appeared that all the static tests were to be completed before the intermediate gauntlet test started except for the ultimate load test.

But the recent anaonymous contibution which seems to be knowledgeable, indicated there is still plenty of static testing to go on.